ANALYTICAL NOTE N° 02| FES PSCC THE AES COUNTRIES’ EXIT FROM ECOWAS AND THE BUILDING OF REGIONAL SECURITY Dr. Sampala BALIMA April 2024 SUMMARY The decision by Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger to withdraw from ECOWAS represents a major strate­gic shift 1 in this decade. The creation of the Alliance of Sahel States already brought with it a new configuration in West Africa following the decline of the G5 Sahel. The strategic surprise, however, lies in the disputed application of procedural rules pertaining to how member countries can exit the Community. While the consequences of this stra­tegic exit are still difficult to measure for either of the two communities, the move towards regional minimalism was driven by the AES countries’ need for greater autonomy in their collective defence. INTRODUCTION The ECOWAS Treaty, revised in 1993, marked the institu­tionalisation of a policy of security and good governance. The new status quo was set out in greater detail in the 1999 Protocol Relating to the Mechanism for Conflict Prevention, Management, Resolution, Peacekeeping and Security, and subsequently by the 2001 Additional Protocol on Good Governance and Democracy. The revision of the Lagos Treaty modified the original principle of non-interference in the internal affairs of the Member States by calling for the promotion and consolida­tion of a democratic system of government in each State. Thus, the Community framework was extended to include oversight of the running of national institutions, the ap­pointment of governments and the promotion of human rights. Historically speaking, ECOWAS was marked by the ideological and institutional euphoria that promoted politi­cal orthodoxy, as defined by the Western historical model of liberal democracy, during the third wave of democratisa­tion in Africa. In accordance with this principle, in the event of a breach of the constitutional order, ECOWAS had the power to intervene in its member countries to facilitate its restoration. Based on this extended normative framework, ECOWAS imposed sanctions on the regimes created by military coups in Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger. The sanctions polarised opinions around the controversy over the differentiated ap­plication of ECOWAS rules to the unconstitutional changes 1